


Covered In The Colors

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Healing, M/M, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Protective Clint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-05-07 11:28:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5454917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pietro Maximoff survives being shot at, but at a price - he is now comatose in the medical wing of Avengers Tower. As the biggest thank you he could ever give to the speedster, Clint finds himself doing everything he can to get him to wake up. At first, his efforts are futile, but as Pietro slowly drifts out of the coma, he realizes he might just have fallen for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_"You didn't see that coming?"_

_Pietro doesn't utter the words as a quip, but it is definitely suitable to say them - Clint really didn't see this coming. When he looks into Pietro's eyes, he doesn't see the cocky_ _speedster he saw in battle. Instead, he sees a suddenly vulnerable young man on the verge of death. Suddenly, the scene changes and Pietro is now back in the snowy woods, except this time he's riddled with bullet wounds. He is looking at Clint with so much hurt and desperation that it makes his heart sink._

_"Why didn't you save me?" Pietro asks in a quiet, almost meek voice.  "You could've saved me, but you didn't."_

Just as Clint starts to reply, he jolts awake. Yet another nightmare had spoiled the good sleep he was hoping to get. He considers the worst part to be that the dreams of Pietro's sacrifice aren't too different from what really happened. Clint sighs and gets up. He has a whole floor to himself in Avengers Tower, but nowadays it feels more like a prison to him than a luxury. He trudges to the kitchen and starts making some coffee. The drink always seemed to make things a little easier for him. Soon, the coffee machine finishes making his dark roast and he pours a cup of it for himself. Sipping at it, he sits on one of the bar stools and tries to forget his most recent dream. When he's had about half of the coffee, his phone vibrates. Sighing again, he sees that it's Tony texting him.

 _It's too early for me to deal with his crap,_ Clint thinks. He reads the text anyway.

[ You need to come to the medical wing, there's something - or rather someone, that I want to show you. ]

Clint rolls his eyes - why couldn't Tony just tell him who it was? He isn't fond of mystery. Still, he freshens up and starts making his way to the huge medical wing of Avengers Tower. Nurses and doctors come down the halls, usually carrying a clipboard or pushing a gurney. The sterile smell is so strong that it makes Clint's nose burn a little. The only thing he likes about the medical wing is the many windows that let natural sunlight in.

Soon, he sees Tony waving to him. The mechanic is sitting in a chair in front of a curtain that Clint figures is for privacy in the hospital rooms.

"I didn't want to tell you who it was - or who it is, because I didn't want to upset you and make you not want to come here," Tony says. "It is fun to overwhelm you, though."

"I'm not in the mood," Clint replies gruffly. "Just show me who it is."

Tony pulls back the curtain and Clint swears he could feel his heart stop for a moment.

Lying under hospital blankets is Pietro Maximoff, hooked up to the most machines Clint had ever seen in one hospital room. His eyes are closed and the only signs of life the archer can detect are his heart rate on the monitor and the feedback from the other machines.

"He's in a coma," Tony explains. "He actually died but then started showing signs of life several hours later. But like I said, he's in a coma now. And I want you to stay by his side."

"What?" Clint says, nearly choking on his own saliva. "Tony, I can't do that. I have missions. What makes you think I'd be the one for this job?"

"He seems to like you," Tony answers with a shrug. "I just have a gut feeling that you'll be able to help him out somehow. Look, I'll pay you in a custom quiver for your arrows."

Clint can't deny that a custom-made quiver sounds excellent. He thinks it over for a few moments.

"I'll do my best," he says reluctantly. "But don't expect any miracles."

"Thanks," Tony says with a nod and leaves the room.

Now alone with the man he thought to be dead, Clint moves the chair Tony had been sitting on to the side of Pietro's hospital bed.

"Hey, uh... I'm sorry you're like this," Clint sighs. "You're an annoying little bastard, but I kind of miss you already. Uh, I'll be staying by your side as much as I can, I just hope the rest of the team is okay with it. God, why am I even talking to you? You can't hear me."

Clint gets chills down his spine when Pietro's heart rate increases just enough to make a point on the monitor.

"Okay, so maybe you can hear me," Clint mutters. "You know... it was really brave of you to save that boy and me. I just wish... as much as I can't stand you, I wish it hadn't hurt you how it did. But thank you."

Starting to ramble, Clint holds a one-way conversation with Pietro, telling him about his life, his family, his place in the team, and smaller things, like his favorite color. Soon his mouth and throat are dry from all the talking and he gets a Dixie cup of water from the water cooler. He briefly considers splashing Pietro with it, but he figures that would get him kicked out. He continues to talk until his eyelids get heavy and his speech slows from tiredness. Then, he makes his way back to his floor, longing for a good night's sleep in his bed.

When he does fall asleep, Clint has the same recurring dream about Pietro multiple times throughout the night. Soon, he's sick of hearing those five words that have been haunting him. He gives up on sleeping and wanders around his floor, then puts on a late night talk show for some mindless TV. Thoughts about Pietro keep coming in and out of his head like trains, and he begins to want nothing more than destroy the track. However, he manages to fall asleep on the couch, limbs draped lazily over the cushions.

In the morning, Clint's head pounds and the dawn light is much too bright to tolerate. He closes the curtains and orders breakfast - eggs over-easy with toast, bacon, and as usual, a cup of coffee. The order soon comes in and Clint eats his food while watching the news.

Suddenly, Clint becomes aware of the presence of someone else in the room. He turns around to see Natasha Romanoff, hair slightly wet and dressed in an oversized T-shirt.

"I heard you're staying next to Pietro," she says. "I had to tell Wanda about the latest news on him and she didn't have the most positive reaction, but you seem to be doing alright."

"If multiple nightmares every night counts as alright, then yeah, I'm peachy," Clint replies. "So... I hate to pry, but what about you and Bruce?"

"I was acting," Natasha sighs. "Some people see me as untrustworthy and cold, so I tried to prove I'm not cold-hearted by 'falling in love'. You know that I'm an amazing actress."

"You have to be, because everyone believed it to be true. Hell, even I did. I just hope Banner's not too torn up when he finds out it was all a game. Other than that, how have the flashbacks been? You seemed pretty shaken up from the whole mind manipulation thing Wanda pulled on you."

"They're happening more than ever. Seeing everything again just reopened a wound I was trying to heal. But I've been worse."

Clint nods distantly. "Do you think Pietro will ever wake up?"

"I don't know," Natasha admits. "I really didn't expect you to ask that. You seem like you can't stand him."

"I can't. But my moral compass pointed me to help in any way I can. I'll talk to Wanda and find out things he likes so I can try to get through to him. It's a hell of a long shot, but maybe it will turn out well."

"I hope it does. Good luck."

Natasha leaves the floor, but not before stealing a piece of bacon from Clint's plate. The archer can't help but laugh almost silently.

All of a sudden, Clint's ringtone goes off and he sees that Wanda is calling him. He answers the call. "Hello?"

"How is Pietro?" Wanda asks, sniffling a little. "I heard you were staying by his side. I wanted to thank you for that. Can he possibly hear you? I've heard of people distantly hearing what's going on around them while comatose."

"He can hear me," Clint replies. "His heart rate goes up a little sometimes when I'm talking to him. I mentioned you - all good things - and his heart rate went up enough to alert the nurses to stabilize him."

"That gives me hope. Maybe he will wake up. You know, you're a good man, Clint. I've visited him during the night and gave him good dreams, but I couldn't bring myself to actually speak to him. Rude, I know, but I just feel like I'll break down if I see him in that bed for more than a few minutes. It's making me feel guilty... I wish I could do more."

"We all do, Wanda. What's important is that you're doing your best. I understand if you don't want to have a one-way conversation with him; it must tear you apart to see him comatose."

"Well, I'm going to visit him now," Wanda announces. "I'll... I think I'll sing to him. It'd be much better than speaking to him and getting no answer. There's this Sokovian lullaby he would always sing to me when I was scared from nightmares, and it really calmed me down. Maybe since it's so familiar, it will get through to him a bit. Once again, thank you so much, and good luck. Goodbye."

Clint says goodbye, hangs up, and finishes his now-cold breakfast. He gets out his StarkPad and starts searching for information on Pietro Maximoff. There's little information he doesn't already know, but he stumbles upon a goldmine of pictures he's never seen before. Most of them have Wanda in their foreground along with Pietro, and Clint even smiles a little seeing how connected they are to each other. He gives a surprised laugh when he sees a picture of a slightly younger Pietro with brown hair. He has no idea why experiments would make part of the speedster's hair silver, but he finds it oddly endearing.

Putting the StarkPad away, Clint decides to get out of the tower for some fresh air. He showers, gets dressed in a dark purple shirt, a grey hoodie, and dark jeans, and sets out to go to Central Park.

Once he arrives at the park, Clint sees a vivid red cardinal singing on top of a branch. He mimics its song, and the bird responds back with the tune. Natasha once teased that he should take up bird-watching just because of his codename. He took the statement seriously and found out that he actually enjoyed the activity. The redhead couldn't be any more amused.

Feeling famished, Clint leaves the park after a long walk around its perimeter. He goes into the nearby bakery he has been liking lately and gets a cherry danish. He remembers that Wanda told him Pietro had a fondness for cinnamon, so he purchases a big cinnamon roll as well. He knows Pietro can't eat it, but he intends to put it close to the speedster so he can smell it and hopefully show a response in his heart rate. Truthfully, Clint has no idea why he's doing this, but he figures he'd might as well be the good man Wanda said he is.

Clint takes the two pastries to go and returns to Avengers Tower, specifically the medical wing. Wanda is no longer in the room and Pietro still lies as motionless as a rock. He starts munching his cherry danish and then puts the box with the cinnamon roll in it on Pietro's chest.

To Clint's amusement, Pietro's heart rate goes up significantly. He quickly takes the box off of Pietro's chest only seconds before a nurse arrives. He tries to act natural as the nurse stabilizes Pietro again.

Clint spends the next two hours sitting and talking to Pietro. He never would have guessed he'd ever be doing such a thing, but after seeing a flying city and aliens, nothing really surprises him anymore.

The more time the archer spends with Pietro, the more he starts to enjoy visiting him. It was cathartic for him to vent and bittersweet for him to talk about happy memories and certain missions.

 _Maybe this isn't so bad,_ Clint muses with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pietro shows no signs of ever waking up, and Clint has to explain everything to the rest of the team.

Clint spends his night running the most recent events through his head. Sleep becomes a distant memory, one that he longs to have back. Soon, morning sunlight streams through his window and he groans. He gets up and trudges down the hall to the kitchen in his old T-shirt and sweatpants. He becomes aware of what sounds like someone crying, specifically a woman. He sighs and moves toward the source of the sound, finding Wanda crying while hugging her knees on the couch.

"How'd you even get in here?" Clint asks, surveying Wanda suspiciously. "Bad news?"

"Yes, very bad news," Wanda sniffles. "Pietro might never wake up, at least according to the medical staff. At first, he showed improvement because of you, but now he's nearly lifeless. I don't want to lose him. He's my head and my heart... if he were to die, I would too. At least emotionally, I mean."

Clint furrows his brow and runs his hand through his hair. "God... I don't like the sound of any of that. I thought he was making progress..."

"So did I, but I'm afraid that has all been undone."

Beginning to pace the living room, Clint tries to think of ways he can reverse the doctors' statement. The cradle is still an option, though he didn't know why the staff didn't use it, He considers that Wanda's magic might bring him out of the coma, but at the cost of upsetting the young woman. Deciding that it'd be worth it in the end, Clint brings it up.

"Wanda, your magic can help," Clint says, a pleading tone in his voice. "I know it hurts for you to see him like this, but it may be the only way he'll ever come out of it. Please just try. You might need to be the one who saves him."

Wanda looks down and considers what Clint just told her. She stays deep in thought for a while, thinking it over and over.

"I'll try," Wanda replies determinedly. "And if I fail, I'll try again, again, and again. But once he's awake, you need to explain everything to him. He'll probably be confused and out of it, but nothing that can't be fixed."

"Thanks," Clint says with a nod. "Now I have to go and tell the rest of the team about this." Wanda exits the floor, looking more focused than Clint has ever seen.

Clint startles when his text tone goes off quite loudly. He checks his phone and sees that once again, it's the one-and-only Tony Stark.

[ I've called a meeting to discuss the situation with Speedy. I'd like you to come to the meeting, if only so I don't have to explain everything. ]

"Always so charming," Clint mutters aloud. He makes quick work of getting ready, throwing on comfortable clothes and combing his hair. He hurries to the meeting room and finds the whole team there, including Vision.

"Welcome to the land of the living, Sleeping Beauty," Tony teases.

"I almost wish I'd stayed asleep," Clint says with a roll of his eyes. "Enough of the nicknames, we need to have a serious talk here."

"As a few of you may know, Pietro Maximoff is in a coma," Natasha states. "At first, Clint seemed to have made progress with getting him to wake up, but Wanda informed me that he is now barely alive. The doctors seem very firm in their belief that he may never wake up. But we can't let that happen."

"No, we can't let that happen," Steve says. "He may not have been with us for very long, but he's still a team member, and an Avenger."

"I have medical experience," Bruce suggests. "I may not be as specialized as the staff in the hospital wing, but I can still help. I've dealt with comatose people before; this can't be all that different."

"It may not seem all that helpful, but I can tell him stories," says Steve.

"I do not practice magic, but I can see if the healers on Asgard can use their seidr on him," Thor says. "They'd just need to come here, but that can be arranged."

"I will monitor his brain waves, something that the doctors aren't doing," Vision proposes. "And I will help Wanda in healing him."

"I have lots of tech. I'm sure there will be at least one thing in my lab that can help. And if not, I will make something new," says Tony.

The door to the meeting room creaks and seconds later, Wanda Maximoff is in the room. "I'm trying everything to pull him out of this, but I fear I'm not accomplishing anything," she says dejectedly, her accent a little thicker than usual. "I'm reading him and he seems to be in an endless dream. He's reliving his entire life through said dream, which makes me think that he may not want to wake up. He may want to stay in the dream to relive happy memories."

"So how do we wake him up?" Clint asks impatiently. "We can't just help, we need to actually take charge and make him wake up."

"That's easier said than done," Bruce replies. "We'll do everything we can to wake him up and just hope that he does."

"I'm just surprised that Robin Hood is liking this kid," Tony laughs, warranting a glare from Steve. "He was always antagonizing you, Clint, wasn't he?"

"I'll start antagonizing you if you keep this up," Clint mutters.

"Alright, let's just forget that Shellhead ever said anything," Natasha sighs. "Arguing isn't going to wake Pietro up. Meeting's over, now everyone, go and put what you suggested into action."

Everyone gets up and leaves, except for Wanda and Clint. They stay in the room and don't speak until Wanda starts talking.

"Is it true that you've started to like my brother?" she asks curiously.

"Maybe, maybe not," Clint answers, looking down at the table. "All I know is that even though he may be an ass at times, he's a good kid. I hope he'll turn out okay."

Wanda gives a sly smile. "I can tell you like him, even if you don't want to admit it. Your thoughts about him are almost deafeningly loud."

"Wait, you're reading my mind?" Clint blurts.

"Not really. Your thoughts about him are so loud that I can hear them when you walk by."

"Okay, that's really creepy. I'm just going to forget that you ever said that. I'm going to check on your brother; don't follow me around and listen to my thoughts."

Clint leaves the room and walks down to the hospital wing of Avengers Tower. The nurses recognize him, so he doesn't even need to get permission to enter Pietro's room.

Pietro is so washed-out that his skin nearly blends in with the white sheets of his bed. The white of his hair blends in even more. The only thing that stops Clint from thinking he's dead is his shallow breathing and the cacophonous beeping of several machines.

"Hey, it's me again," the archer greets, breaking out into a grin when Pietro's heart rate goes up slightly. "Everyone's concerned about you and we're going to do everything we can to help you wake up," Clint continues. "I hope it works... as much as the 'old man' thing annoyed me, I actually kind of miss it now. I want you awake. I want to hear your voice again and see you smile and see you up and moving. Please wake up, I know you can hear me. You may like the dream you're in, but you can't stay in it forever. You need to wake up."

Startling Clint, Tony walks in carrying what appears to be a heavily modified StarkPad.

"Vision and I found a way to monitor Pietro's brain waves and translate them into possible thoughts he's having," the mechanic says, looking like a kid in a candy store. He sets the device right next to Pietro's head. "This bad boy can monitor brain waves wirelessly, no electrodes or any of that crap involved. Now, let's see what Speedy's thinking about."

Tony switches on the device and an EEG screen pops up. "Say something," he tells Clint.

"Uh... how are you?" Clint asks rather awkwardly. He receives no response.

He tries again. "Do you recognize my voice?"

 **Yes,** the device reads out.

"Good. What about my name?"

**Clint Barton.**

"And the name of the other Avenger in here with me?

**Tony Stark.**

"This is so cool!" Tony exclaims. Clint shushes him and speaks again.

"Do you remember your own name?" he asks.

**Pietro. Pietro Maximoff.**

"Can you tell me what you're dreaming about?"

**You.**

Clint covers his mouth and hopes Tony doesn't notice what the device just read out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint keeps speaking to Pietro through the EEG and gets to know the speedster. The more Clint learns about him, the more he learns that he might be in a little bit too deep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly dialogue, but the next one will be a lot less dialogue-heavy.

For a few long moments, Clint is convinced that he was just seeing things when he saw Pietro's response to his question. Soon, he becomes aware of a snapping noise right in front of his face.

"Hey!" Tony says, snapping his fingers. "Earth to Barton. What put you in a trance?"

Clint shakes his head quickly as if trying to get water off after a swim. Really, he's just trying to shake off the surprise. "It's nothing."

"It has to be something. What, did Speedy confess his love for you?"

"No. Well, yeah, but not really. I asked him what he was dreaming about and he answered that he was dreaming about me."

Tony bursts into near-hysterical laughter, slapping his knee. Clint looks daggers at him, causing the mechanic to cease his laughing.

"Okay, okay, I get it, don't piss off the assassin," Tony says, struggling to not start laughing again. "I knew he was practically obsessed with you, but I didn't expect him to be dreaming of you like a lovesick schoolgirl."

"I didn't expect it either, but I wouldn't call him a 'lovesick schoolgirl'," Clint replies. "He sacrificed himself to save me, and to save another innocent life. Now, I'd appreciate it if you left the room and do whatever it is that multi-billionaires do. I need to learn more about this kid; his S.H.I.E.L.D file wasn't comprehensive enough."

Tony gives Clint a look but leaves the room without a word. Clint sighs in relief and turns to face Pietro.

"I don't know much about you, kid," Clint starts. "But I'd like to know more, just so we can feel more comfortable around each other. Well, I mean, so I can feel more comfortable around you. All I know is your name, your age, where you're from, and your powers. And, I know that you're an annoying little bastard. But... I see now that you're more than that."

 **I am,** the screen of the brainwave monitor reads.

"What, an annoying little bastard, or more than that?" Clint chuckles.

**Both. And I know that you're an old man, but you're more than that - you're also fun to annoy.**

Clint's eyes widen and he covers his mouth again. "You can speak in full sentences through that thing? Well, you certainly learn fast."

**Yes, I can, and yes, I do. Do you want to hear about my dream?**

"Sure, why not."

**I dreamed that when I got shot, you rushed over and held me. You were trying to stop my bleeding and you were begging me to stay with you. You were so scared and there was so much pain... but you were so warm and you were holding me so tight. You were saying you were sorry over and over. And when I collapsed, I saw my body from above. You were crying over it.**

"Well, that's vivid," Clint deadpans. "I expected you to say that you dreamed about me trying to shoot you with an arrow from my bow. You do realize back in that forest, I tried to shoot you down but you were too fast?"

**Yes, and I still find it funny.**

"Of course you do," sighs Clint, but at the same time he can't help but smile. "Even like this, you're still snarky. I don't know whether I like it or not."

**You like it.**

"Just tell me about yourself, okay? I don't have time for banter."

**Okay. My favorite color is blue, I love thunderstorms, I like the smell of freshly-baked bread, and even though I have a short attention span, I like to read. Now that all that basic stuff is out of the way, I'll tell you why I like to bother you so much.**

"Please do, that's been bugging me ever since I met you."

 **Most of the Avengers, even Romanoff and Stark, go too slowly for me. You may not be fast at all, but you're quicker than the rest of them in your thinking. You're able to look at your target and hit it half a second later. When my sister tried to look inside your head, you almost immediately used that electrical arrow on her. Though I wasn't pleased with that at the time, I found myself impressed by it later. Basically... we're not too different, so I know exactly how to push your buttons. That makes it so fun.**

The corners of Clint's mouth quirk up without him realizing it. "You flatter me. Now, could you tell me how it feels when you run at full speed? I just want to know what it feels like." 

**It's like taking a cold shower, but much more pleasant. I feel so free with the wind rushing along with me as I run, and I feel at peace as everything catches up with me. I don't like standing still because my thoughts go so fast, but when I'm running, my thoughts go at the same speed as my body. For me, it's the best feeling in the world.**

"Certainly seems like it considering how much you use your speed. You know, when you wake up, I have to show you the Roadrunner cartoons. I think you'd like them."

 **I'd be up for that.**

"Well, it's getting late. How about I talk some more to you tomorrow, Speedy?"

**Sure, old man.**

"That's never going away, is it? Goodnight," Clint says.

**Goodnight. Maybe I'll dream about you again.**

As Clint started going back to his floor, he found himself thinking,  _Damn it, I'm starting to like this kid._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint uncovers information about HYDRA's experiments and a possible threat against the Avengers.

As Clint tosses and turns in his bed, he tries to forget about his conversation with Pietro. As annoying as the young man is, there's something about him that's driving Clint up the wall, but in a good way. He sighs and gives up on sleeping again. He decides to occupy his time doing some much-needed research. Getting out his laptop, he starts searching for anything new he can find on HYDRA. The organization has been plaguing his mind as of late for reasons unknown to him. Perhaps it was from talking with Pietro - he had heard that HYDRA scientists experimented on the speedster and his sister.

At first, Clint can find practically nothing. What he does find is encrypted, and he realizes there's no way he can solve that in his state of exhaustion. He wishes Natasha were here with him - though he has some skills in breaking through security, she's a lot better at hacking. He gets J.A.R.V.I.S to save the links of the sites for later - perhaps he'll be able to figure it out once he was well-rested.

Clint finally comes across an unprotected goldmine of information on HYDRA's latest experiments. He gets in and begins to pore over some of the text. It isn't long before he finds what he was really looking for - details on the experiments Strucker's men performed on Wanda and Pietro. In front of him lies HYDRA files on the twins, loaded with much more information than the S.H.I.E.L.D files he looked at. Subconsciously, his eyes go to Pietro's file first. He skips all the basic information and goes to the comments about the speedster.

{ Pietro Maximoff is not an easy subject. Although he and  
his twin volunteered for these experiments, he does not  
cooperate with me. He complains that the tests are more  
"extreme" than he expected and reacts negatively when woken  
up for blood drawing. Despite all of that, he is showing very  
promising signs of developing abilities. We presume that he  
will eventually have superhuman speed and agility, as he now  
often darts across his cell at a speed higher than that of the  
average person. There is a blue contrail that follows his motions.  
We will continue our use of the scepter on him, as it seems that  
we are making great progress. }

"Huh, even they were annoyed by him," Clint remarks to himself. He keeps browsing the page until he comes across an encrypted section of the file. Sighing, he guesses at the password twice and thankfully gets it on the third try. If he had guessed for any longer, he would have been locked out.

{ It has come to our attention that Pietro Maximoff has died.  
This occurrence will not go unpunished - we believe one of the  
Avengers is responsible for his death. If no one confesses, we  
have no choice but to hold all members responsible and bring  
them into the experiment compound for a special interrogation. }

Clint swallows hard. Knowing HYDRA, the special interrogation could be more than just terrible. He closes his laptop, sets it aside, and sighs again. He trudges back to bed and out of exhaustion, quickly falls asleep.

Only two hours later, sunlight invades Clint's room and he covers his eyes with his pillow. He can't remember ever being so exhausted yet so awake at the same time. His body and mind definitely need more sleep, but he hears HYDRA's threat over and over again in his head. Suddenly, he hears a loud crash.

"I'm too old for this," Clint groans as he gets up to investigate the sound.

When he finds the source of the noise, Clint rolls his eyes. Natasha is standing in his kitchen next to the coffee machine, a white ceramic mug in shatters at her feet.

"Nat, did you do that on purpose to wake me up?" he asks. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you. But I just wish you had been here a couple hours ago when I needed help cracking encrypted files."

Natasha starts picking up the shards of the mug. "I got barely any sleep and I have to train Wanda today, so I needed something to wake me up. I went here because you almost always have coffee made. Dropping the mug was an accident. Hey, are you okay? You look like you've just seen something bad."

"I have. Well, I've read something bad. But I need to go back to sleep. We can talk later. Oh, you're replacing that mug."

A corner of Natasha's mouth quirks up. "Fair enough. Get some shut-eye, you look like hell."

Natasha leaves the floor and Clint sighs in relief. As much as he loves seeing his partner, he doesn't have the time for small talk at the moment. He downs some of the coffee she had made and takes a cold shower to wake himself up. Once he's dry and dressed, he sets out for the medical wing of the tower once again.

"Hey, it's me again," Clint greets. He receives no response and his eyebrows come together in worry. "Pietro?"

Still receiving no answer, Clint looks at the many machines keeping Pietro alive. Everything appears to be fine, but the archer gets an uneasy suspicion that something is wrong. He calls a nurse over, who confirms that the speedster is alright. It does nothing to stop his worrying, however.

The nurse leaves and Clint sits down in the visitors' chair. He leans forward, resting his chin on his clasped hands.

"Please, I need to know that you're alright," he says. "Just say something through the device, anything."

The beeping of the monitors fills the uncomfortable silence. For a second, Clint is convinced that even if the machines tell a different story, he has lost Pietro.

The more Clint looks at Pietro, the more he thinks the younger man is slipping away from him. He's unusually pale and his limbs are stiff and motionless, making him look almost like a doll in the hospital bed. Clint longs to see the blue of his eyes again, even if only for a second. He wants to hear his voice, even if he uses it to poke fun at Clint. Most of all, he wants to see Pietro up and moving and looking alive.

"Please, kid, wake up," Clint begs. "I don't care what you'd say to me, I just want to hear your voice again. I want to see you with open eyes and even the smallest amount of color in you. I don't like seeing you so lifeless-looking. Just please wake up. This is killing me."

There is no response for quite a while, and Clint almost leaves the room. However, something keeps him glued to his seat - hope, he guesses. He sits in near-silence for what feels like a thousand years. He hasn't felt so desperate for something to happen in a while. The only time he's felt so pleading was when HYDRA agents captured Natasha during a mission. She fought her way out and saved herself, but in the moments that she was gone, Clint prayed to every higher power he could think of for her to come back safely. Now, he was doing the same for Pietro to wake up.

At first, Clint doesn't notice the sudden, unusually high increase in Pietro's heart rate. He had gotten used to the beeping of the machines so much that he barely payed any attention to it anymore. What he does notice is a gentle grip on his upper arm.

"Tony, I don't need your crap right now," Clint mumbles, guessing that the touch belonged to the mechanic. After all, Tony seems to enjoy pestering him while he was in the medical wing.

He feels as if his heart has stopped when he hears a familiar, accented voice.

"You think I am Stark?" the voice says, sounding amused.

Clint looks up and sees a bleary-eyed but definitely _awake_ Pietro.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pietro is finally awake and Clint doesn't know how to handle that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a dialogue-heavy chapter.

For a second, Clint thinks he's in a strange fever dream. Pietro is awake and so _alive_ that it sends shivers down his spine. His accent brings Clint back to that fateful day in battle. All he can hear is gunfire and all he can see is crimson staining Pietro's shirt. He can smell the iron in all the blood, bringing bile up his throat. He doesn't realize he's replaying the past in his head until someone shakes him.

"Clint!" Pietro is exclaiming, his voice rough from disuse. "I'm here. I'm okay."

"Does okay mean hooked up to machines?" Clint replies gruffly.

"I thought you would..." Pietro trails off, and it's enough to prompt a feeling of guilt in Clint.

"Look, kid, I'm sorry," the archer says. "I'm glad you're awake, I just don't know what to do. I mean... I saw you die, Pietro. It's a little hard to believe someone is alive when you've seen them dead. But you dying tore me up. I couldn't sleep, and I still can't. All I would do is replay your death in my head over and over again. When I didn't, nightmares replayed it for me. I kept wishing I could go back in time and save you somehow. I beat myself up over it. No amount of good times got it off my mind. As much as I hate to say it, it was almost always on my mind. In the brief time that I saw you alive, I couldn't stand you. But I started wishing I had treated you better. As annoying as it got, your powers were, and still are, admirable. I'm just an average-looking guy with a bow and arrow."

"You're still a part of the team, powers or not," Pietro says. "I wish I would've seen the truth earlier and thus joined the Avengers earlier. I don't know if they even considered me a team member."

"They did," Clint assures. "My significant other even named her baby after you. Well, sort of, she had the middle name be your name. Still, everyone considered you a team member, even if you were annoying as hell."

"Am I still annoying as hell?" Pietro asks in an amused tone.

"Yes. But I've realized you're more than that."

"You flatter me, old man."

"I see that hasn't died."

"And it never will. Anyway... I saved you and that kid because I was willing to sacrifice myself to save innocent lives. I'm not exactly innocent. I'm not horrible, but Ultron had blinded me for a while. I was so fixed on bringing your team down that I didn't see how wonderful it was. You all are a bunch of misfits, but you put your differences aside to do good. That's something amazing."

"Well, you can be a misfit with us. Everyone has conflicts with each other over certain things, but we just remember we have that in common - we don't fit in. Remembering that brings us together. Even when Steve and Tony fight, which is very often, we're able to forget about it so we can work towards our goals. Now, your personality may conflict with some of us, but that happens between the rest of us. Actually, you may get along well with Tony. You two are both cocky, arrogant smartasses. You think faster than other people and you like to push people's buttons. I mean, I know you and your sister hated him, but you two might just get along if you try."

"I will try my best to forgive him, and you're right - we do have things in common. Now, tell me about this significant other of yours."

"What, Laura? She's amazing. I don't know what I'd do without her."

A narrowing of Pietro's eyes makes Clint laugh. "Are you jealous?"

"No," Pietro replies a bit too quickly. "I don't get jealous."

"Sure, that's a hundred percent true."

"Stop giving me a hard time."

"You give me a hard time all the time. Anyway... you know how I was going to show you the Roadrunner cartoons? Let's do that."

Pietro nods and starts the medical wing checkout process. He then follows Clint to the archer's floor and waits for him to turn on the TV.

The first of the recorded cartoons starts and Pietro breaks out into a grin. He soon sees why Clint wanted to show them to him - the relationship between Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner is very similar to what he has with the archer. Soon, he can't remember the last time he's laughed so hard.

Clint isn't watching the short as much as he's watching Pietro. Something about the flash of the speedster's smile warms his chest. He finds himself looking at his hair, wondering how it became almost white at the front. He looks into the blue of Pietro's eyes, which are so full of life that he smiles.

"I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard," Pietro admits with a grin. "Thank you, they were funny. I'm actually very thirsty because my throat is hoarse from laughing so much."

Clint gets Pietro a glass of water and the speedster downs it in one big gulp. He thinks that shouldn't impress him, but it does.

After a couple more cartoons, Pietro suddenly speeds off. Clint calls for him to ask where he was going, but the speedster is back within less than a second.

"Meep meep," Pietro says and runs back off.

Laughing, Clint realizes that he hasn't felt so happy in a while.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Pietro uncover a dark secret.

Clint startles awake when he feels a strangely cold hand tap his shoulder. He opens his bleary eyes to see Vision, looking oddly nervous.

"I apologize for waking you up, sir, but there is an urgent matter at hand," Vision says. His usually smooth voice sounds a bit broken at certain words, almost as if he is getting choked up with anxiety. "It's about Wanda. She's gone missing, so Stark and I searched for answers. We came across an encrypted file. When we unlocked it, it said at least one Avenger is responsible for Pietro's death. They said if no one confesses, the whole team will wake up in an experimentation compound for a 'special interrogation'. It's worrying."

"I read about that the other day," Clint replies. "This looks bad... very bad. We need to search for her."

Clint hears a loud crash down the hallway.

"Well, I know who that is," he sighs. "Maybe I can get him to search with me."

Vision nods and leaves the floor. Clint starts his morning coffee, figuring that by the time he's done talking to Pietro, it would be ready to pour. He reluctantly goes down the hallway.

He sees nothing until someone rams into him and knocks him to the floor. When he sees Pietro, he sighs, rubbing his head where he had hit it.

"Stop that!" he exclaims. "I thought you were done with running into me. Seriously, it's annoying."

"I'm anxious," Pietro says. He stops running and looks at Clint with red-rimmed eyes.

"Have you been crying?" Clint asks, and the speedster glares at him.

"Well, of course I'm going to be crying when I find out my twin sister is being held captive!" Pietro retorts.

"It was a simple question, calm down. Look, running into walls and knocking crap over won't solve the problem. If you want to see your sister, let's search for her. It shouldn't be too hard because recently, the whole team got tracking chips in their left arm. Tony created a device that tracked the locations of our team members. But it won't help any of us get captured, because it has a fingerprint scanner that approves only our team. Sure, someone could use a latent fingerprint, but it's safe enough."

"Oh, I remember that now," Pietro says. "So all we need is the thingy that tracks us?"

Clint chuckles at Pietro's use of the word "thingy."

"You're cute," he says. "But you can't be cute when you're dead, so get dressed in something that is _not_ sportswear."

Pietro nods and speeds off. In only thirty seconds, he's back near Clint, wearing a compact bulletproof vest Tony had designed. He also wears skin-tight pants made for spying because they minimize the noise of clothes rubbing together. Clint looks at the pants covering Pietro's legs and swallows hard, trying not to blush. It took a lot to make him redden. He gets dressed in his Avenger uniform and boards a quinjet with the speedster. He checks the tracking device and finds Wanda's location. He then searches for the compound on his radar and it appears as a green dot.

To Clint's dismay, Pietro is very impatient on plane rides. He keeps bouncing in his seat like a child and fidgeting with the belt strapping him to his seat. All of this is enough to distract Clint from piloting after a while.

"Hey, kid, could you stop that?" Clint says in a firm, exasperated tone. "You're distracting me from flying this thing."

"Sorry, it's just so fun to mess with you," Pietro laughs. "I'll stop."

Clint breathes a sigh of relief when Pietro relaxes and actually falls asleep in his seat.

Soon, the two of them reach the compound. Clint turns on the quinjet's camouflage and lands it in a clearing hidden by trees. He and Pietro get out and make their way into the compound. It is oddly quiet - the kind of quiet that makes one feel as if something is very wrong.

Whenever someone walks by, Clint shoots them in the forehead with a tranquilizer arrow. When he can't reach a HYDRA agent, Pietro knocks them down hard enough to make them hit their head and pass out. After fifteen long minutes of clearing the area, Pietro and Clint find the experimentation cells.

To their shock, the two of them find nearly all the captives to be dead. They appear to have recently died, but the stench of death still wafts through the air. There are pools of blood surrounding their heads. The blood is fresh, the metallic smell mixing with the odor of death.

The concoction makes Pietro double over and vomit. Clint has seen enough that it doesn't affect him as much, but bile still rises in his throat. The feeling of nausea worsens when he hears the sound of a woman crying.

Pietro blanches and runs to the source of the noise. When he sees his twin in one of the cells, he feels as if his heart stops for a moment.

"Wanda!" he exclaims, his voice thick. "Wanda! W-what did they do to you?!"

Clint catches up and sees Wanda captive in the cell. The young woman is sobbing with glazed eyes and messy hair. There are tiny bruises all over her arms and legs, as if someone drew her blood over and over.

"There were so many needles and chemicals," Wanda says shakily. "They demanded sensitive information and every time I refused, they injected something into me that made me feel like I was on fire. But I couldn't tell them what they wanted to know, because I knew it'd put you and I in danger, Pietro. I didn't want to lose you again, even if it meant I had to endure so much pain. They wanted to enhance my powers, turn me into a killing machine... make me everything I don't want to be. I'm glad you're here. I heard you woke up, but I had very little time to see you before I was captured."

"It's fine," Pietro replies. "But... is there anything else I need to know?"

"They plan on capturing all the Avengers and killing us off one by one," Wanda answers. "It isn't really about your death anymore. It's about weakening us so we won't be able to fight back the next time there's trouble. They want to torture us until we're too broken to take a stand. When they heard you were alive, their reasons changed. There was no point in figuring out who killed you when you just came back. So they changed their objective but acted like it was still about you."

"What about all the freshly dead bodies?" Clint manages to say.

"One of the other captives held a prison break. Everyone participated except for two other victims and myself. We knew that if we tried to escape along with the others, we'd get killed. And we were right. HYDRA handled the prison break by shooting every participant in the head. I still don't know why they would kill off the people they were so eager to hurt. Maybe it was to break me. When you see people get killed in front of you, it's traumatic."

"No kidding. Let's get you out of here. Pietro, help me break this glass."

"What? Do you want me to get cut up?" Pietro says.

"Just do it."

Pietro gets a running start and punches the glass with his left fist at a supersonic speed. The glass of Wanda's cell shatters and falls on the floor, but nowhere near Wanda. He reaches for Wanda and she takes his hand, carefully stepping over the glass.

The twins hug each other and Clint can't help but feel something inside of him twist. He knows he should be happy that they are reunited, but part of him wishes Pietro would hug him like he hugs his sister.

Pietro notices Clint looking at Wanda and himself when he pulls away.

"What's wrong?" Pietro asks Clint with genuine curiosity.

"Nothing," Clint mumbles.

"Wait... are you jealous?"

"Maybe."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint gives Pietro a day of fun.

Clint spends the quinjet ride back with a creased brow and a racing mind. Pietro had hugged Wanda, his _twin sister_ , yet the very gesture ignited jealousy in the archer's chest. He cringes - is he really liking the speedster that much already?

When the jet arrives back at Avengers Tower, Clint goes straight to his floor and flops down in his bed. The covers are soft and comfortable, but they feel like stone beneath his body. He tosses and turns, trying to get to sleep.

Eventually, Clint falls asleep, but it isn't long before someone is already shaking him awake. Bleary-eyed and more than just a little peeved, he looks at that someone, who turns out to be Pietro.

"What are you waking me up for?" Clint says gruffly. "More importantly, why are you on my floor?"

"I couldn't sleep," Pietro replies, and Clint figures he must be telling the truth. The speedster has deep violet circles underneath his eyes, which are slightly red.

"So you came to me, when you could've gone to your sister. Your sister, who happens to have powers that could help you fall asleep. Ah, whatever... do you want to talk about it?"

Pietro shakes his head. "It's not because of something, I'm just having trouble falling asleep for no reason. I don't like being alone when this happens. Can-"

"You're suggesting you want to sleep next to me, aren't you? Fine, go ahead. But don't get any ideas."

Clint lifts the duvet up and gets as close to the left edge of the bed as possible. Pietro gets underneath the covers on the other side of the bed and closes his eyes. It isn’t long before he drifts off. As usual, he looks peaceful when he sleeps, so peaceful he appeared even younger. The white of his hair contrasts with the black and purple duvet beautifully and Clint can’t help but stare.

Clint shakes his head violently to shake off the feeling in his chest. He then falls asleep.

It seems as if only five minutes have passed when sunlight streams through the window and warms Clint’s skin. He covers his eyes and groans.

Sitting up, he sees that Pietro is nowhere to be found. _The kid must’ve gone to his floor,_ he guesses. He stretches and gets up, though the latter is very difficult.

Clint suddenly hears the coffee maker running and he gets to the kitchen as fast as possible. A speedster plus coffee equals a lot of trouble.

Pietro has a mug under the spout of the coffee machine and paces as it fills up. He appears well-rested, so Clint has no idea why he needs coffee.

The feeling of eyes on him from behind makes Pietro turn around.

“Good morning,” he says casually. “I’m almost done, only about a minute left.”

“In your perception of time, that probably means five seconds, but I’m not complaining if it means I’ll get my coffee sooner,” Clint replies. “Why do you need coffee? You’re going to be bouncing off the walls. You don’t even look tired.”

“I’m not tired, I just wanted to see why you like coffee so much,” Pietro says with a shrug. “I’ve never had it.”

“You’ve never had coffee? You’re kidding me. You can try it, but don’t start running around and breaking everything. Especially my new quiver. Look, I wanted to tell you something, and it’s going to be very awkward, but I need to say it.”

Pietro raises an eyebrow but nods. “Okay. Tell me.”

“I feel like you didn’t really have a good childhood,” Clint starts, and the speedster glares at him. “No, let me finish. I feel like you had to grow up too fast and you didn’t have any time to do fun things and just be a kid. So, I want to give you the happy memories you should’ve had when you were younger.”

Pietro’s eyes grow a bit wider but narrow in disbelief. “What have I done to deserve that?”

Clint sighs very heavily. “You saved my life and the life of an innocent little boy. You did the most courageous thing I’ve seen in a long time. Everyone deserves good memories, including you. Now, tell me what you want to do.”

Pietro thinks for a long moment. “I want to go to a carnival. I heard they’re fun, and I want to try cotton candy.”

Laughing a bit, Clint nods. “I used to be in a circus. Okay, I’ll take you to a carnival. There should be plenty, considering it’s summer.”

A look in the newspaper gives Clint information on a summer festival taking place this day. He gets ready and so does Pietro. The speedster is dressed very casually in a navy blue T-shirt and basketball shorts.

“Nice to see you wearing something other than sportswear,” Clint quips. “Unless basketball shorts count. Okay, kid, let’s get going.”

Pietro smiles and the sight practically makes Clint melt. He shakes of the feeling and gets in his car with him, then drives to the carnival.

When they arrive and step out of the car, Clint already has sweat on his brow from the heat. The air is hot and humid, but the sky couldn’t be any bluer. Pietro smiles and tugs on Clint’s arm almost like a child. Clint follows him to the ticket booth and pays for the wristbands. One of the people manning the stand does a double take.

“You two get in for free,” she says. “Thank you for your, uh, Avenging.”

“Thank you,” Pietro replies with a smile. He tugs on Clint’s arm again. The two look around, nearly blinded by the bright sunshine.

“You want to go on Zero Gravity?” Clint suggests. “That’s a classic.”

Pietro nods and the two show their wristbands and get on the ride.

About an hour passes of that - going on rides, trying to calm their stomachs, and people-watching. Then, Pietro spots the cotton candy stand and rushes over to it. Clint follows and pays for the cotton candy. They sit down at a table with a bench and Clint can’t help but laugh at Pietro’s reaction to the cotton candy.

Pietro’s eyes are wide as he eats the treat. “I love it!” he said, making Clint smile and shake his head.

“Glad you’re having fun. I am too,” replies Clint. “I’m getting kind of tired from the heat, how about a couple more rides and then we go somewhere else?”

Pietro nods and goes back to devouring his blue cotton candy. When he’s finished and the little paper cone is in the trash, he gets to the last couple rides.

When the two leave the carnival and return back to the tower, Pietro grabs Clint by the shoulder.

“What’s up?” Clint asks. The speedster suddenly looked very intense, causing some confusion in him.

“I knew I liked you from the moment I knocked you down and I saw your reaction,” Pietro says. “I only picked on you because I liked you and I wanted you to pay attention to me. I still only bug you because I like you. And not just like, I actually…”

Suddenly, Pietro takes Clint’s face into his hands and kisses him. Hard.

“I love you,” Pietro breathes.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Pietro bond until an unexpected guest shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for how late this chapter is. I've been busy and I didn't have the time to sit down and write.

_“I love you.”_

Those three words echo over and over in Clint’s mind. Not only did Pietro kiss him, but the speedster confessed his love for him. His mind continues to reel, but he manages to meet Pietro’s gaze.

“I didn’t see that coming,” the archer jokes. “I… I wanted to say something like that, but I guess I was too nervous to bring it up. Just so you know, there’s a pretty big age difference between us.”

“You’re not that old,” Pietro says. “You are an old man but you are not too old for me.”

“I just… I need to let you know a problem,” Clint sighs. “I think I already told you this but I need to enforce it. There’s someone else.”

The blue of Pietro’s eyes darkens and Clint swallows hard.

“Who is this someone else?” Pietro asks. “Is it-”

“I’m married to a woman named Laura, and I have kids,” answers Clint, and he can feel his heart sink when Pietro’s face falls. Clearly, the younger man didn’t remember hearing about Laura.

“Oh. That is…” Pietro trails off, narrowing his eyes, and Clint shrinks back.

“Why did you not tell me?” Pietro says. “I’m your teammate. Teammates tell each other things, no? Why just say this now when I had no idea you even had a family?”

Clint straightens his posture and his jaw, then looks at Pietro, whose face is flashing between various emotions over and over.

“I told you, but you apparently just forgot,” he states firmly. “Look, I had no idea you had feelings for me until just now. For the longest time, I thought you were annoying me just for fun. I didn’t even consider that it could be because you wanted me to pay attention to you. If I’d known… I would have made a move.”

“What do you mean you had no idea?” Pietro asks with a slight tilt of his head and a gritting of his teeth. “I said I was dreaming about you. I told you why I annoyed you. Maybe I forgot you have a wife, but maybe you forgot everything I said.”

Pietro begins to walk away, but Clint stops him.

“Please listen to me,” Clint says, his hand very gently around the speedster’s wrist. “I… I love you too. I started to slowly realize it, but I was too chicken to even tell myself I was in love. You did the most selfless thing I’ve ever seen, you make me laugh, and you’re always on my mind. I don’t want us to be secret star-crossed lovers or any of that crap, so I’m going to do some explaining.”

The sight of Pietro’s eyes softening makes Clint feel warm inside. Pietro gets closer to him and kisses the corner of his mouth.

“You are not so bad after all,” Pietro says with a cheeky smile, and Clint lets go of his wrist and gently elbows his side.

“Shut up, kid,” Clint replies, but the words are soft and teasing. “Come on, let’s go home, the mosquitoes are bugging me - no pun intended. If you’re not sick from all that cotton candy, we can order pizza and watch TV or a movie on my floor of the tower.”

“I do not believe I have had this pizza thing,” Pietro admits, and Clint laughs.

“You’re kidding me!” the archer exclaims. “You’ve been missing out.”

On the way to Avengers Tower, Clint explains pizza to Pietro, whose eyes get so wide it’s comical. When they reach Clint’s floor, Pietro is grinning ear to ear.

“Excited, huh?” Clint says as he takes his shoes off and settles down on the living room sofa. Pietro nods and sits next to him.

“Of course I’m excited,” Pietro chuckles. He snatches the pizza menu out of Clint’s hands and starts reading everything out loud.

“You can pick the toppings,” Clint tells him and Pietro continues to read.

“I want sausage and mushrooms,” Pietro requests after a very long minute. Clint makes a face but nods and places the order over the phone.

Pietro gets up all of a sudden and starts browsing the sizable collection of movies Clint has. He makes a tiny gasp that still manages to catch the archer’s attention.

“I want to watch this one,” Pietro says. In his hands is a DVD of Tangled. “It’s like Rapunzel, no? My mother always told Wanda and I fairy tales when we couldn’t sleep. My favorite was the story of Rapunzel.”

“Sure,” Clint replies with a smile and puts the movie in.

For the first time in Clint’s life, Pietro is silent. His blue gaze is fixated on the screen as if he is in a trance. Clint has seen the movie countless times with his children, so his sight is not on the film but on Pietro.  
Clint takes the opportunity and truly studies the speedster. His eyes roam over blue eyes, considerable muscle, smooth skin, and near-white hair. Eventually, Pietro feels an instinct that someone is looking at him and it breaks him out of his near-trance.

“Like what you see?” the speedster says with a smirk, and it takes all of Clint’s energy to not kiss it off of his face.

“No, there’s something in your teeth,” Clint deflects. “Yes, I was looking at you. You and your prematurely white hair.”

Pietro chuckles and shakes his head. “You are rather funny. Oh, I just thought of something - we should have nicknames for each other!”

“That is very domestic, kid,” Clint laughs. “You already have a nickname - quick little bastard.”

“But that’s not nice,” Pietro whines, trying to get Clint to laugh again.

He does, and Pietro feels an odd fuzzy feeling inside. This is not like the countless girls he’s flirted with. Something about Clint makes his heart beat faster than it ever has, and Pietro muses that he’s screwed.

Suddenly, a snapping of fingers jolts Pietro out of his reverie.

“You looked like you were in a trance,” Clint explains. “Uh, I have a new nickname for you - Roadrunner.”

“That is not new, old man,” says Pietro. “But I will take it. Your nickname is Hawk.”

“Very original,” Clint chuckles. “Pizza’s sure taking a while.”

Without warning, Pietro speeds away, presumably looking for the delivery person. He sees the car on the side of the road and understands why the pizza is taking so long.

“You having trouble?” Pietro questions. “I will take the pizza and send someone to help you.”

Pietro zooms back inside with the pizza. It is still very hot, the smell from that making Clint’s mouth water. He raises an eyebrow at the speedster.

“There’s a problem with the delivery man’s car. I called an auto man, but here’s the pizza!” Pietro cheers. It takes all Clint’s concentration not to smile.

Clint opens the box and within a split second, Pietro is eating a slice. The archer has no idea how he can stand the whole thing being scalding.  
“I like it,” Pietro says between bites. “I wish I could have gotten this as a child, but now is not too late, no?”

Clint nods, takes a slice, and picks the mushrooms off of it. The pizza really is good despite the burning temperature.

When he is finished with the slice, Pietro starts kissing him out of nowhere. Clint makes a surprised noise but goes along with it. It gets heavier until they are making out for the first time.

The archer is about to hold Pietro close, but he hears a door opening.

_Crap, I left the door unlocked for the delivery guy!_

Pietro seems to not hear the opening of the door and mutters from someone.

“Pietro!” Clint exclaims under his breath. “I left the door unlocked for the delivery guy and I’m pretty damn sure that’s Tony’s voice!”

The speedster’s eyes widen and he speeds off, locking himself in the bathroom. For a moment, Clint can’t help but feel envious of Pietro’s powers.

Tony Stark enters the room. “Hey, Legolas. I heard that Maximoff kid is out of his coma now. I just wanted to say nice work. Oh, that’s actually not everything I need to say.”

Tony can’t help but smirk as he says, “There’s word going around that you and Speedy Gonzales are in a relationship. Is that true?”

“Shut up,” Clint grits out.

Both men suddenly hear an accented voice calling.

“Yes! It is true!” Pietro shouts gleefully.

Clint represses the urge to slap him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Pietro find themselves feeling at home with one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very sorry for the long wait. Exams, travel, and appointments have taken up so much of my time. Thank you guys for sticking with the story - have some tooth-rotting fluff.

Tony lets out a bark of laughter that turns into a laughing fit. He slaps his knee, making Clint roll his eyes.

“That is hilarious! I called it,” Tony boasts.

“Whoopee. Do you want a cookie?” Clint says in a gruff voice. “Seriously, Tony. Stay out of this.”

Before Clint can snatch Tony’s StarkCell out of the billionaire’s hands, Tony makes a phone call.

“Hey, Vision, you aren’t going to believe this,” Tony chuckles. “Pietro and Clint are dating. Yeah, I know! I guess I could say I didn’t see it coming? But I listened to the rumors and well, they’re not rumors anymore.”

“Give me that!” Clint exclaims, but Tony pushes his hand away when he tries to seize the mechanic’s phone.

There is a whoosh of air and a zooming noise, and suddenly Tony is on the ground. The wind had been knocked out of him, so he draws heaving breaths.

Clint turns around and meet eyes with Pietro. The archer presses his lips into a thin line, obviously awkward.

“What did I tell you about running people over?” Clint sighs. “You know what, never mind. He deserved it. But damn it, kid, you just had to open your mouth, didn’t you?”

Pietro lowers his head and frowns with pouty lips. Clint realizes almost instantly that he can’t scold him any further; the look on Pietro’s face is that of a sad puppy.

“I’m sorry,” Pietro says quietly. “For spilling it, and running someone over again. I hope you can-”

Clint waves his hand in dismissal. “It’s fine. He would’ve found out the truth sooner or later anyway. Why don’t we get out of here before he brings everyone in? We could go to a cafe and get doughnuts and coffee.”

“What is a doughnut?” Pietro questions, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Chuckling, Clint takes his lover by the hand. “You’ll see.”

Tony just groans and makes his way out.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Clint and Pietro reach the cafe in town, they grab the comfortable seats next to the window with sunlight streaming in. Pietro saves them with a magazine for each chair and walks with Clint up to the line of treats.

“You see that circle pastry with a hole in the middle? That’s a doughnut,” Clint explains. “Some of them are filled, or have sprinkles, or-”

“I want the chocolate one with the rainbow sprinkles!” Pietro exclaims, so loudly that Clint cringes in embarrassment.

“Not so loud, Speedy,” Clint says. He chooses a Boston cream doughnut and orders two mochas as well as Pietro’s choice.

The barista rings the treats up and presents them their purchases. She sees the excited look on Pietro’s face and smiles warmly.

“You two are adorable together,” she says. “Enjoy.”

Clint sits down and puts the doughnuts and coffee on top of their wrappers on the table. Pietro speeds to his chair, drawing many looks. Clint facepalms and shakes his head, but he can’t help but smile.

“Don’t do that for such short distances,” Clint orders. “People will look.”

“I don’t really care what strangers think about my speed,” Pietro replies with a shrug. “But I will take your advice, old man.”

Pietro takes a bite of his doughnut and Clint bursts into laughter at the speedster’s amazed expression.

“I love it,” Pietro says with wide eyes. He quickly finishes it and then goes to his coffee.

“Just don’t drink that too fast, you’ll be bouncing off the walls sooner than I’d like,” Clint says.

With a mischievous look, Pietro guzzles down his mocha. He gets the effects of the caffeine almost instantly and starts bouncing in his seat.

“Pietro!” Clint whispers. “What did I just say?”

“Some rules are meant to be broken,” Pietro whispers back with a shrug.

Clint facepalms for the second time in only ten minutes. “Kid, sometimes you confuse me. And by sometimes, I actually mean a lot.”

“See, I am good at something,” Pietro laughs.

“Shut up, you’re good at a lot of things. Like being annoying. But also being handsome and fun to be with.”

“Thank you. You are good at, uh… making coffee, archery, fighting, being old, and being handsome, but also being old again. I had to say that twice because of how good you are at being old.”

Surprising himself, Clint laughs. “God, I love you. Well, I’m done. How about we go back and watch some TV?”

“Sounds good,” Pietro replies. He throws both his trash and Clint’s away and laces his fingers with the archer’s.

The two walk home, chuckling at bad jokes they make.

Before Clint can sit down with Pietro, he hears a female voice behind him. Startled, he whips around to see a smiling Natasha. Her smile is not sweet and innocent, but savage in a strange way, as if she had caught a mate and is ready to devour him like her namesake.

“What the hell, Natasha?!” Clint exclaims, taking long strides away from her. “Not you too. Why is everyone suddenly breaking into my apartment?!”

“I wanted to give you your key,” Natasha replies, handing him the spare key previously in Tony’s keeping. “One last break-in so you won’t have any more break-ins.”

“Well, thanks, Nat, but that doesn’t explain the look on your face,” Clint says. “Did Tony tell you?”

“Oh, I knew long before Tony said anything,” Natasha laughs. “I know you better than I sometimes know myself. So, what now? Should we have a couple name for you? Ah, maybe… Clietro? Maxiton?”

Clint shakes his head with a chuckle. “No, no couple name. In case you didn’t notice, he’s right here.”

Pietro had flopped down on the couch while the two assassins were conversing. “Yes, I am right here. Romanoff, can you please give us some alone time?”

Natasha nods and leaves Clint’s apartment. He breathes a heavy sigh of relief and goes over to Pietro. “Hey, kid. What do you want to watch?”

“Monty Python and The Holy Grail,” Pietro replies, and Clint can’t help but chuckle. “J.A.R.V.I.S said it’s funny.”

Without hesitation, Clint puts on the movie and lies down with Pietro. The two are laughing hard only five minutes in.

When the scene with the killer rabbit comes on, Pietro absolutely loses it, and Clint swears his laugh is the most wonderful sound in the world.

Pietro falls asleep at the end and Clint wraps his arms around him. For the first time in what feels like forever, the archer’s reality is better than his dreams.


End file.
